Sascha SeganThe Best Android Phones for 2019Switching from Apple's iPhone or simply not a fan of iOS? Get a Google-powered alternative. Here's how to find the right device for you, along with the top-rated Android phones we've tested.

Apple or Android?

Big, small, stock, or skinned, if you're in the market for a new smartphone, chances are there's an Android option to fit your fancy. And unlike Apple's rigid release cycle, Google's hardware partners unleash a seemingly endless stream of new devices year-round. But therein lies the problem: With so many options out there, how do you settle on the right one? Lucky for you, we test and review nearly every smartphone available on all the major US carriers.

Keep in mind that while the reviews above may not show your carrier of choice, most of the phones here are available for, or compatible with, multiple US carriers. Read on for what to look for when buying, as well as our top picks for Android phones.

When to Buy a New Android Phone

All of 2018's big phones have been released. We expect the Android phone market to stay pretty stable until we see the LG V8 and the Samsung Galaxy S10 around April 2019.

Pricing Trends

This list has phones from $59 to $1,100. But most of the phones here are either quite cheap, or very expensive. Readers from countries outside the US, where $300 to $400 phones are popular, will probably be pretty curious about that.

Relatively few phones in the US sell with list prices between $250 and $500. That's because most phones here are sold on monthly payment plans that hide the upfront price of the phone. People who don't have sufficient credit to go for a monthly payment plan, in general, purchase phones that cost under $200 upfront. There are some exceptions to this rule—people do buy a limited amount of unlocked Galaxy S9 phones and iPhones with full payment—but the prevalence of monthly payment plans has largely killed the $300 to $500 segment.

We've put the LG G6, one of last year's flagships, on this list for people who are looking for a phone in the $300 to $500 range. There's also the OnePlus 6T, which represents the best overall value on the market right now.

What Size Phone Is Right for You?

There's been a dramatic shift in Android phone shapes and sizes over the last year. Many manufacturers have started to make their phones taller and narrower, resulting in one-hand-friendly models with improbably large screen sizes. We go into more detail on the new form factors in This Is How We Need to Measure Phone Screens Now.

You can find Android phones with stated screen sizes from 4.6 inches up to 6-plus inches. With the new form factors, though, it's very important to look at the width of the phone as well as the width of the screen. That's how the biggest screen in our list, the 6.4-inch panel on the Samsung Galaxy Note 9, doesn't overwhelm.

Which Is the Best Android Version?

Not all Android is created equal. Device manufacturers like HTC and Samsung have been applying their own visions to Android for some time now. If you want a pure Google experience, then you want to go for a Pixel device; they're the developer models where Google makes sure to deploy upgrades first. Motorola and OnePlus also have very clean user interfaces, although they tend to add more invisible features to Android.

The newest version of Android is 9.0 Pie, which is available only for the Google Pixel phones, OnePlus phones, and the Essential Phone at the moment. The Essential Phone isn't on this list because the company seems perpetually on the verge of going out of business, which makes us feel uneasy about recommending it.

For most other phones, Android 8.0 Oreo is the current shipping version, and you should find it on most phones today. Do not accept any phone with a version older than 7.0 Nougat, as the older the Android software version gets, the more likely it is to have serious security flaws.

The Ongoing Trade War

We've frequently recommended phones from the Huawei, Honor, and ZTE brands in the past—they're often high-quality products that are great value for the money. But over the past year, the US government has essentially gone to war with those companies, making their future on the US market extremely unreliable. So for now, we've eased away from reviewing most Huawei, Honor, and ZTE products until their distribution in the US is clearer.

We also generally don't include phones on this list that aren't available in the US. However, we sometimes take a look at them for our sister site, PCMag UK. Our recent experience with the Huawei Mate 20 Pro shows us what we're missing out on in the US.

Should You Buy Through a Carrier or Unlocked?

The US market is still dominated by carrier-sold phones, but a new breed of high-quality unlocked options are starting to flood the market.

Some high-quality Android phones are available completely unlocked for around $250, no strings attached. Every phone on this list can be bought direct, with no carrier involvement. But most people still buy their phones through carriers, which offer a single point for service and support, as well as monthly payment plans that dramatically lower the upfront prices of phones.

Of the bunch shown here, the Galaxies, Motorolas, and the Pixel work on all four major US carriers. The LG G6 doesn't work on Sprint. Most other unlocked phones only work on AT&T, T-Mobile, or virtual carriers on those networks.

Choosing Android as your mobile operating system is only half the battle. If you're still on the fence, check out our list of The 10 Best Smartphones, regardless of OS.

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About the Author

PCMag.com's lead mobile analyst, Sascha Segan, has reviewed hundreds of smartphones, tablets and other gadgets in more than 13 years with PCMag. He's the head of our Fastest Mobile Networks project, hosts our One Cool Thing daily Web show, and writes opinions on tech and society.
Segan is also a multiple award-winning travel writer. Other than ... See Full Bio

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